1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a feeding machanism for a container cutting machine and, more specifically, to such a feeding mechanism which can direct cylindrical containers toward the cutting machine for cutting the cylindrical containers into small pieces thereby.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,126, entitled "Machine For Cutting Disposable Containers" by Frank J. Lodovico and John W. Wagner and patented on May 8, 1990, is incorporated by reference as if included in its entirety herein. The cutting machine diclosed therein is capable of cutting into small pieces the thin wall material of a plurality of disposable cotainers such as plastic bottles and/or metal cylindrical cans. These cutting machines are typically used to cut the plastic bottles and/or metal cans of the type used in the soft drink industry. The bottles or cans are returned for deposit and individually cut into small pieces for collection and disposition. The cutting section of the machine includes a pair of parallel shafts mounted for rotation in opposite directions about the center axes thereof. Each of the shafts rigidly supports a plurality of overlapping cutting wheels for rotation therewith. Each cutting wheel preferably has a plurality of identical cutting teeth with each tooth having an apex at the maximum diameter and a root at a root diameter of the cutting wheel. Each cutting tooth has a leading surface and a trailing surface which meet at the apex to form a straight edge at the maximum diameter which is parallel to the center axis of the shaft. The leading surface and the trailing surface respectively lie in planes which are parallel with the center axis of the shaft and extend toward the same side thereof to cause the straight edge of the apex to circumferentially lead a remainder of the leading surface during rotation of the cutting wheel.
The basic cutting wheel configuration has been found to effectively and reliably produce the small pieces of the containers as disclosed therein. Generally, the embodiment in U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,126 is configured to cause most of the small pieces to be ejected downwardly from the cutting area between the cutting wheels. A dispersing section below the cutting area is intended to disperse the small pieces throughout a collecting section therebelow. The small pieces are received within a container in the collecting section and eventually removed for further disposition. However, it has been found that suctioning or vacuuming means disposed in the lower area of the machine is preferred in order to transport the small pieces to a larger container remote from the machine itself. In either case, it is clearly desirable that all of the containers be completely cut into the small pieces and that the small pieces produced in the cutting section be discharged from the cutting area and collected or transported for further disposition.
As discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,126, such machines are typically utilized for cutting disposable containers employed in the soft drink industry. As a result, there have been continuing problems with the cutting of such disposable containers which have not typically existed in the operation of other types of cutting machines found in the prior art. The soft drink liquid remaining in the disposable containers has been found, in a short time of operation, to completely engulf the interior of the container cutting machine. The liquid is extremely corrosive and the sugary substance can cause even greater problems when heated. Additionally, because the soft drink liquid is deposited on many of the small pieces produced by the cutting machine, the small pieces also become sticky.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,899, entitled "Feeding Device For A Container Cutting Machine" by Frank J. Lodovico and patented on Nov. 3, 1987, dicloses a typical mechanism which can be utilized for feeding plastic bottles and/or metal cans to the type of cutting machine disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,126. U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,899 is incorporated by reference as if included in its entirety herein.
The feeding device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,899 primarily dicusses various size plastic bottles which can be directed to the cutting section of the machine thereof. However, the same feeding device has heretofore been successfully employed for the feeding of cans to a cutting section. Generally, the cutting machines of U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,126 for cutting large plastic bottles or for cutting small metal cans used in the soft drink industry are identical except for the effective width of the machines as determined by the effective length of the cutting shafts. In other words, if the machine is intended to cut metal cans, the effective length of the cutting shafts is about 5.625 inches while the effective length of the cutting shafts of the machine which is intended to cut plastic bottles would be about 8 inches. The smaller machine simply includes a lesser number of identically sized cutting wheels on the shafts thereof. Similarly, if the machine is intended to cut smaller metal cans, the overall length of the paddles of the feeding device would be of a comparable smaller length.
Although the cutting machine of U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,126 typically produced the desired small pieces of plastic bottles and/or metal cans for disposition therebelow, with the advent of a suctioning or vacuuming means for transporting these smaller pieces to a different location, new problems were experienced. For example, when collecting small pieces below the cuttting section, the inclusion of larger pieces in the form of elongated strips, rather than the specifically intended small pieces, was of no particular concern. The primary objective of cutting the plastic bottles and/or metal cans into small pieces was to effectively reduce the volume of the material for collection and further disposition. If a few elongated strips which were not reduced to small pieces were present, the volume was still effectively reduced.
On the other hand, with the advent of the improved suctioning or vacuuming means for further disposition of the smaller pieces, there is a significant concern that all of the plastic bottles and/or metal cans be cut into the desired small pieces rather than including any elongated strips. The elongated strips tend to interfere with the suctioning or vacuuming of the small pieces to a remote location. This problem of interference by the elongated strips is complicated by the existance of the sticky, sugary substance on both the small pieces and the elongated strips.
Specifically, the overall configuration of the prior art feeding device and cutting machine is such that those portions of the plastic bottle and/or metal cans which are cut by the cutting wheels located at the ends of the cutting shaft would produce the elongated strips of the thin wall material rather than the desired small pieces. Accordingly, while the feeding device of U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,899 can effectively direct plastic bottles and/or metal cans to the cutting section to be generally cut thereby, there is no assurance that the plastic bottles and/or metal cans will be directed toward and confined to a central area of the cutting section to insure that the entire container will be cut into the desired small pieces.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a feeding mechanism which will insure that the cylindrical containers are directed toward the center of the cutting section so that no portion of the containers will be cut by the cutting wheels located at the end thereof.